Technology for Teaching and Learning » Uncategorizedhttp://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl
Wed, 18 Feb 2015 15:11:21 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.1myWPI unavailable week of 1/5/15 to 1/9/15http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/12/23/mywpi-unavailable-week-of-1515-to-1915/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/12/23/mywpi-unavailable-week-of-1515-to-1915/#commentsTue, 23 Dec 2014 17:53:11 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1802The myWPI learning management system, http://my.wpi.edu will be unavailable from January 5th to January 9th 2015 due to a necessary software upgrade to maintain the service contract with our vendor. Access to myWPI and Blackboard Mobile Learn will be unavailable during the upgrade.

NOTE: We will send out an e-mail notification when the system is back online.

Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this process.

Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions users may have about the upgrade:What about B-term/Fall grades?
Grades are due on Tuesday, December 23rd at 3:00pm. Students may check their final course grades online from the Student Web Information System at http://bannerweb.wpi.edu. Course sites remain available for 21 days after the end of a term, so students will still be able to access their B-term/Fall semester sites following the upgrade to review grades on individual assignments. If you need a course site to remain available for longer than 21 days, send a request to myhelp@wpi.edu.

I need a course/organization/project-group site. What should I do?
Course or Organization site requests submitted using the forms found at http://www.wpi.edu/+myWPIsite will still be processed, usually within two business days.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site prior to the upgrade? Will I lose my content?
No content will be lost in any myWPI sites. You will simply lose access to the system during this downtime.

I am Jess Baer and I will be supporting all things Clicker and Qualtrics related! I’ll also be doing my best to support all the different software and hardware the Academic Technology Center offers to students and faculty.

I’ve spent the last 7 years doing what I love as a technology trainer for Natick Public Schools and Apple Inc – and I’m very excited to continue here at WPI.

I’m originally from the South Shore but now reside in Ayer while I look at houses in the area. I’m still learning all about WPI and Worcester so if you have any lunch suggestions or bits of info – please let me know! Swing by the Gordon Library and say hi!

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/11/18/im-also-new-to-the-atc-ttl-group-im-jess/feed/0New ATC TTL group member introduction!http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/11/17/new-atc-ttl-group-member-introduction/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/11/17/new-atc-ttl-group-member-introduction/#commentsMon, 17 Nov 2014 20:04:57 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1756Hi everyone! I am Lindsey Tapper, the new myWPI guru for the ATC. I have a broad background in instructional technology, my most recent experience managing and supporting the Content Management System at Tufts Medical School- and less recently Classroom and A/V support for the Tufts Medford campus. I worked at Tufts University for 7 years before coming to WPI, and prior to that I was a BA student in Integrative Arts at Penn State University. I also have a MA in Museum Studies and History from Tufts. I’m currently living in Sterling, MA but I’m originally from Philadelphia, so ask me about living in the woods, or about cheese steaks!

When I’m not in the office, I enjoy spending time with my fiance and our dog and two cats, playing board games, video games, cooking, and photography. Feel free to stop by the ATC office in Gordon Library and introduce yourself- I’m looking forward to meeting you all

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/11/17/new-atc-ttl-group-member-introduction/feed/0Compatibility Mode and myWPIhttp://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/09/19/compatibility-mode-and-mywpi/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/09/19/compatibility-mode-and-mywpi/#commentsFri, 19 Sep 2014 20:16:18 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1739If you’re an Internet Explorer 11 user, you may have noticed that myWPI has the occasional tendency to look, well, odd.

If you’re seeing errors like these scrollbars, or perhaps encountering other errors in Internet Explorer where things aren’t displaying or working correctly, you may need to turn off Compatibility Mode!

Compatibility mode is a special feature in Internet Explorer 11 that allows you to view web pages as if you were using an earlier version of Internet Explorer. Usually, this feature is only automatically enabled on sites that need to use it, but sometimes, it can get turned on by accident. When it’s turned on, as indicated by the blue icon below:

…you’ll need to turn it off! The quick way to do this is to click the blue icon. Your page will reload, and you’ll be out of compatibility mode! (The icon will turn gray as a result.)

You can also change your Browser settings to permanently notify Internet Explorer that myWPI should not be run in compatibility mode. To do that, click Tools -> Compatibility View Settings.

You’ll see a new window open up. It should look like this:

From here, click on the names of any sites that look like myWPI or are WPI related, then click Remove. In addition, confirm that the three check mark boxes (highlighted in red) are not checked off.

If you encounter any problems with Compatibility Mode or with myWPI, you can always contact the helpdesk with a request!

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/09/19/compatibility-mode-and-mywpi/feed/0A Little Problem Editing WMV (And solution)http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/03/19/a-little-problem-editing-wmv-and-solution/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/03/19/a-little-problem-editing-wmv-and-solution/#commentsWed, 19 Mar 2014 14:14:27 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1687Disclaimer: Jim cannot fix your computer; Jim is sharing a solution he found to a problem that popped up on campus. If Jim’s solution does not work for your computer, Jim is probably not the right person to contact.

Hi folks,

Quick post, in case anyone out there is still suffering from a problem that cropped up last year; I ran across it on some machines here on campus just recently!

The problem pretty much goes like this:“I’m trying to edit a wmv file but half of the screen is black”

The fix?
If you are up-to-date on Windows updates and are having this problem, then you (or your system administrator) needs to uninstall the update for kb2803821. It would have been installed sometime around 7/9/2013. Uninstall it, run Windows Update, and re-install it. Done!

And if you don’t see the update when you scan, you might need to click the “Check online for updates from Microsoft Update” option. Again, if all of this is locked down by policy, ask a system administrator for a hand.

So what happened there, anyways?

The difficulty arose last July when Microsoft released an update to address a vulnerability in some of the core Windows Media Player components. Pretty much all 3rd party video editing software started exhibiting this “half black screen” problem.

Microsoft actually fixed the problem later last summer with a second patch, but they somewhat confusingly re-issued the same windows update as an update. It seems that in a decent number of cases, this “update to the update” didn’t manage to get itself installed, and so the problem still pops up from time to time.

Anyways, if you’re editing wmv files (maybe time to change to another format?) and this pops up, I hope the bit above helps! If not…well, I’m not a Microsoft employee–sorry! But you can provide feedback about this issue at the kb article here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2803821

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/03/19/a-little-problem-editing-wmv-and-solution/feed/0That’s What We Are Here For!http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/01/15/thats-what-we-are-here-for/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/01/15/thats-what-we-are-here-for/#commentsWed, 15 Jan 2014 14:13:19 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1675Yesterday I had one of what we call our “great meetings”. I met with two faculty (don’t worry, they shall not be named here) who identified some of their teaching challenges. We spent our time discussing the following topics:

1. Grading multiple choice exams. How can we cut down on grading time while also gathering quality assessment?

4. Forming and managing student groups. What are the best ways for them to find each other in a large class? How can a faculty member best assign topics and measure progress?

5. Assessing the work of student groups. What is the best submission option if the work needs to be checked for plagiarism? What about if it is a different form of media?

6. Peer assessment within a group. What is the best tool for students to submit feedback on their team members?

7. Peer assessment between groups. What is the best way for individual students to provide feedback on a group project to another group of students?

8. Low stakes assessment and it’s role in grading, as well as motivation to do assigned reading.

This was just one meeting. We talked about clickers, myWPI, Qualtrics, and non-WPI-supported tools such as YouTube, Catme and others. We discussed strategies, timelines, permissions and technical how-to’s. We set up shells/placeholders, classroom visit plans, and talked about future meetings. Hopefully this meeting helped lessen the burden and provide time-saving tips. At one point or another, each faculty member said sort of off to the side, “I’m sorry to bother you with all this!”

And so, even though I said it numerous times to them in person, I wanted to be sure that everyone else knew it too.

THAT IS WHAT WE ARE HERE FOR!

Seriously, the TTL team loves this. These conversations are what we live for. And what we’re trained for. And if you happen to be reading this from another campus, my guess is your Instructional Technology team feels the same way.

So, welcome back to campus WPI! We hope you had a great break.

Please come by, call or email atc-ttl@wpi.edu if there’s anything we can do for you.

PS: Don’t google “Cat” in front of a group of people. Just another friendly tip from your TTL team.

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2014/01/15/thats-what-we-are-here-for/feed/0Attention all Blackboard Social Users – New EULAhttp://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/12/13/attention-all-blackboard-social-users-new-eula/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/12/13/attention-all-blackboard-social-users-new-eula/#commentsFri, 13 Dec 2013 13:01:29 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1664Do you use the Blackboard Social tools? Are you used to seeing a small image of your choosing in the upper right hand corner of your screen? If so, you may have noticed that this image was gone as of this morning. What the heck happened?

Blackboard has issues an update to their End User License Agreement (EULA). In order to restore your image please follow the three simple steps below:

Click on the Global Access Menu in the upper righthand corner of your screen.

Click on the small space where your image should be.

Read the new EULA carefully, certify that you are indeed over 13, and click Agree.

And that is it, your profile will be back up in running just like that!

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/12/13/attention-all-blackboard-social-users-new-eula/feed/0Self and Peer Assessment: Feedback on Group Workhttp://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/04/10/self-and-peer-assessment-feedback-on-group-work/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/04/10/self-and-peer-assessment-feedback-on-group-work/#commentsWed, 10 Apr 2013 16:17:38 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1442I’m not kidding when I say that three faculty members have approached us very recently with a similar teaching challenge: How can I use technology to help with team assessment? And here in the TTL group, we LOVE a challenge.

Each professor has slightly different needs, however all centered around the desire for students in a group to give feedback on their group members. Some are interested in qualitative feedback. Others want a more quantitative method, which would allow group members to divide up the “percentage of effort” among the team. We are looking forward to more discussions on this latter topic, especially as we role out a new method later this summer. But in the meantime, because WPI is project-based and their are 12 days of classes left in the term (12 DAYS?!?!), we thought that this “work around” for group feedback in myWPI might be useful.

The myWPI Self and Peer Assessment tool is designed for students to give feedback on other individuals’ work. So let me please be clear that the methods described below to use the tool merely for comment gathering is very much gaming the system. However, we think it works!

Using myWPI’s Self and Peer Assessment Tool to Gather Feedback on Group Collaboration

Step 1: If you haven’t done so already, use the Users and Groups tool to create a Group Set, then enroll all of your students in their correct groups. This will save a lot of time later.

Step 2: Navigate to the Content Area in which you would like to deploy the Assessment. Click Assessments –> Self and Peer Assessment.

Step 3: Fill out the relevant information about the Assessment. In the Instructions text box, we suggest that you ask students to write their own name.

Your students will be required to take action during the Submission Date range, so maybe give them a day or two on that calendar. However, most of the work will take place during the Evaluation Date range, which can only begin after the Submission Date range is complete.

The next settings are completely up to you. If you want to know who said what, do not allow anonymous evaluation. If you do not need the student to evaluate him/herself, you can also disable Allow Self Evaluation. Finally, you can choose whether to display the comments to the students.

In the Number of Submissions to Evaluate, be sure you list the number of students in the group. When in doubt, go with the highest number.

Choose the availability settings and you’re ready for Step 4!

Step 4: Create a Question.

In the Question Information section, instruct the students to write their full name. You do not need to enter a Model Response.

Click Submit.

Mouse over Question 1, click the action link for the drop down menu, and click Criteria.

Click Create Criteria.

Enter instructions to the students who will be evaluating and choose the settings that are important to you. For example, you may not be interested in numeric feedback. If that’s the case, you can set the Points Possible to 0. However, if you want the students to comment verbally, be sure to enable the Allow Feedback to User option. Whether the student being evaluated can see these comments is actually a setting you chose in Step 3 above.

Step 5. Make copies of the Assessment – each group will need one. Click the Action link on the Assessment title –> Copy.

Once you have enough copies of the Self and Peer Assessment for each group, you can change the settings for each copy. Click the Action link on the Assessment title –> Adaptive Release (Advanced).

Click Create Rule

The Rule name will default to Rule 1 – you can leave that and click Submit. On the next screen, click Create Criteria –> Membership.

Move one Group (remember in Step 1 when you create Groups?) from the left column to the right.

Repeat this for all copies of the Assessment – each Group will need their own copy. This ensures that students are only evaluating their own group members.

Step 6: Let your students know that you are ready to go!

During the Submission Date Range, each student will need to go in and submit their name.

During the Evaluation Date Range, the students can go in to the same course item and evaluate their group members.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We’d also love to hear how it goes if you give this method a try!

With the first set of Google’s shiny new specs being sent out to the handful of lucky applicants, it’s only a matter of time before students and instructors end up with a pair over their eyes in a class. And while it’s tempting to label the lenses as just another distraction akin to smartphones, there might be some real use out there for these things, as well as some real risks. Let’s brainstorm!

First-person lecture-capturing is the first thing that comes to my mind. An instructor could show students an experience first-hand—imagine watching a pre-lab instructional video from the point of view of an expert, or the feeling of being right in the middle of an intense discussion. Of course, there’s always the risk of students using Glass to record lectures when they shouldn’t, but at least they’ll have to announce their intentions via voice-command to do so!

Speaking of labs, why not strap on a “Safety Glass” for easy recording? Students using wearable computers could easily record and share data and reactions. The best part, however? Being able to record without pressing a button or holding up a camera!

For those of us with poor memory, Glass has the potential to bring up notes while maintaining eye contact. Some may find it distracting to have text hovering at the corner of your vision—other instructors could see some real use in having notes delegated to the corner of their eye rather than having Powerpoint or written notes.

Glass can add a new element to distance learning—much like the lecture capture concept above, Glass’s live video chat feature allows an instructor to give a lecture from anywhere. Need to write out something? Just grab a piece of paper!

I think it goes without saying that the technology isn’t a boon for every instructor and student, and I shudder to think of the effects of a Glass video on someone with motion sickness. However, it’s certainly not something to ignore. What creative things can you imagine doing with a computerized pair of glasses?

]]>http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/03/30/taking-classes-with-google-glasses-wearable-computers-and-higher-education/feed/5Pen Technology in Educationhttp://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/03/06/pen-technology-in-education/
http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2013/03/06/pen-technology-in-education/#commentsWed, 06 Mar 2013 19:46:38 +0000http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/?p=1395The use of pen-based technology at WPI breaks into three categories, as far as I can tell. I am open to argument about this, though!

The process of working through a problem or equation cannot be demonstrated by static text on a PowerPoint slide. Many folks like to use the chalk board. For years here at WPI, we have also had SMART Podiums (formerly Sympodiums) in our electronic classrooms. These nifty tools allow you to make your monitor an electronic whiteboard. In fact today, a faculty member was describing to me the way his students shifted forward in their seats when he used a red line to make a connection between two numbers. So simple to engage! We are now in the process of introducing Wacoms into the newer e-Classrooms, which function a bit differently.

They don’t have the handy pen selection buttons on the top, so my talented colleague Jim Monaco has programmed a pen menu into the button. Hit that rocker on the pen and you should see it appear.

Wacoms do not have the “SMART overlay”, which means you can only use the pen tools that are built into specific programs. Microsoft has assisted by building them into all of their products. We also have a GREAT program for annotating PDF’s (or just writing on blank PDFs) called PDF Annotator. I’d recommend you use it instead of Adobe Acrobat because the pen tools are so much better.

We have also noticed the use of more personal tablets in the classroom! Be you iPad, Windows, or Android, there are always options. If you have an adapter, you can project by plugging your tablet into the VGA or HDMI cable in your classroom. (Please note, on the iPad 1, only selected apps will display.) What are some of our faculty’s favorite apps for writing in class?

Airsketch: Air Sketch provides the user with a wireless remote white board. The possibilities are endless; use it to mark up PDF files, solve out equations, or hand to students to have them diagram a process! You can open an HTML-5-enabled browser on the classroom machine and project the URL for your whiteboard into the classroom.

UPad and UPad Lite: Use your finger or stylus to write as you would on the old-fashioned kind. Export to a pdf to share with your students, or archive for future use.

Bamboo Paper: Available for iOS and Android, this relatively new app has a great writing interface. Which isn’t surprising, given the manufacturer.

3. Grading work

If you have a tablet at your disposal, you may be interested in using that digital pen to mark up your students’ work. If you are able to connect to a PC, I recommend PDF Annotator (See Above). If you are working on an iPad, I am in love with iAnnotate PDF. It is worth the cost for one feature alone – you can flip pages without saving the annotations on each page. At least one faculty member (you know who you are) mentions the importance of that feature to me on a regular basis.

Are you doing interesting things with Pen Based Technology? If so, I have two suggestions.